Hon. AIAMN

by Mary-Margaret Zindren, Hon. AIAMN, EVP/Exec. Director

Those of you who attended the Annual Meeting of AIA Minnesota on Tuesday witnessed my surprise and tearful response when I was awarded honorary membership in AIA Minnesota. 

As a past president said to me the next day, didn’t you expect it was coming? It’s true that, as of July 6, I’d served the organization for 10 years – the threshold at which one can be considered for this honor – and I’d had every indication that my presidents and boards of directors had been pleased with my work for the duration of that time. 

But when the awards event in August came and went, and the preparations for the Awards Celebration and Annual Meeting at the Annual Conference showed no signs that this was in the offing I thought, maybe, probably, in all the stress of Conference preparations and life in general, it just got missed. I had reconciled myself to the fact that it wasn’t going to happen this year. 

And then, SURPRISE! Not only had my dearest collaborator, Amber Allardyce, kept this secret from me, she had made arrangements with my family to be there, too (which I didn’t know had happened until they joined me at the end of the program, flowers in hand). President Jennifer Christiaansen, AIA, and the entire AIA Minnesota Board of Directors had kept the secret, too – who knows for how long. And past president Amy Kalar, AIA, had written and delivered the most humbling speech about my leadership and service. She knew me well enough to know the surprise would require a written version I could read later, as I would be too overwhelmed to hear it in real time.

What’s true is that even if it wouldn’t have been a surprise, I probably would have been a bit of a wreck receiving it. I have been doing this work of associations for 30 years. The greatest honor one can receive in association leadership is for your members to see you, to honor you, as one of their own. 

I have tremendous respect for your intelligence and knowledge, your work ethic and fortitude, your creativity and innovative thinking, your ideals and values, and for the good you do in the world for people and for the planet. It is truly an honor and a privilege to support your success and I am so grateful to be in your company – and that of my fellow long-tenured staff members Amber Allardyce, Hon. AIAMN; Deanna Christiansen, Hon. AIAMN; Chris Hudson, Hon. AIAMN, and Pam Nelson, Hon. AIAMN, as well as the staff who I hope will meet this milestone in the future, too.

Thank you to all the AIA Minnesota leaders I have worked over the past decade – I wouldn’t be here without you – and to the members who went out of their way to offer congratulations during the conference. It was wonderful to share one of the happiest and proudest moments of my life with you!

View the November edition of Matrix »